德赢体育

There is one word I want you to remember after reading this: build. Build a church. Build a community. Build a family. Build a business. Now before I explain what I mean by these four kinds of building, I will first clarify "build" with four observations about what I do not mean. Let me be a philosopher for just a minute. We define things by contrast.

Do Not Start from Scratch

By build I do not mean start from scratch. The kind of building I have in mind is like the cathedral building that C.S. Lewis describes in his very last book, The Discarded Image. The subtitle is daunting: An Introduction to Renaissance and Medieval Literature, but really it's fantastic. A cathedral takes more than one lifetime to build. The medieval artisans who built the great cathedrals鈥攎asons, master builders, carpenters, glaziers鈥攖ypically joined the project long after it had started, and most of them died before it was finished. They were joining other people鈥檚 work. So when I say build, I mean join good work that other people are already doing.

Do Not Sign your Work

By build I do not mean build your brand. Medieval cathedral builders did not sign their work. The masons who fitted the stones together matched the bottom stone to the stone on top of it so perfectly that no mortar was necessary. They didn鈥檛 sign their work because to sign their work would make it so that it didn鈥檛 do its job. They didn鈥檛 care about whether they got credit. They cared about whether it was excellent work, and they cared that it would fulfill its function, which was to bring glory to God and to serve the community. They were not building their private brands. So when I say build, I mean focus on serving others, not on getting credit.

Do Not Burn and Rebuild

Third, by build I do not mean burn and then rebuild. The world will whisper to you that the quickest way to make a difference or to make a name for yourself is to call out and destroy someone prominent. That鈥檒l be super tempting because it鈥檚 a quick return. The whisperers might even get crafty and say, 鈥淭his is what a prophet does.鈥� Now that might be what prophets did in the Old Testament鈥攏ot sure about that鈥攑retty sure they were bringing a covenant lawsuit. What prophets do today is preach the word faithfully. And if a sister or brother needs to be corrected, a true prophet does it in private鈥攊deally face to face and clearly in love. You鈥檝e learned how to do that鈥攌eep doing it.

The sad truth is that the people you鈥檙e most likely to hurt if you build your brand by burning are people close to you. People far away aren鈥檛 going to hear you. So if you want a reputation for being insightful or clever, you鈥檙e going to have to make your target people who will listen鈥攁nd that鈥檚 going to be people in your church, people in your family, and your friends. Anybody close enough to hear and care is close enough to be hurt. Satan loves it when we bite and devour one another. 

By build I mean affirm what is good. Encourage your sisters and brothers, and pour yourself out.

Do Not Build Alone

Fourth, by build I do not mean work alone and astonish everyone with your solo accomplishments. Now to a certain extent, we鈥檝e encouraged that in your classes鈥攙ery little group work, lots of solo accomplishments, lots of things done quietly to surprise me. Cathedral building took a community. Just about everything you鈥檙e going to do after today is going to take a community. No one had all the skills necessary to build a cathedral. Nobody had enough time, even if one person could have done it all. The cathedral itself was the visible presence of an institution. Institution-building is the most effective way to serve others, and it is especially the most effective way to serve the vulnerable and the weak. 

Institution versus Individualism 

The forces that make individualism so powerfully attractive鈥攜ou鈥檝e heard a lot about it from your Covenant professors鈥攚e鈥檙e really good at pointing out individualism as being bad, and it is, but it鈥檚 especially bad when you think about what it means to make a difference in the world. Institutions are stable and visible in ways that individuals are not. Institutions serve the vulnerable because they鈥檙e there and they鈥檙e trustworthy. They鈥檙e more trustworthy than usually any one individual. Any one individual is likely to let you down or lose their focus or change their mind. Institutions can be depended on. Institutions will also multiply your impact. They serve many people at once. They can outlast us, and the institutions will still be here after you鈥檙e gone.

So by build, I mean build institutions that serve others.

As I mentioned at the start, I want you to build four kinds of institutions. And no matter what comes after you walk across the stage at graduation, you can get started on all of them immediately. Now, you're doubting me on one of them, but hold on.

Build a Church 

First: Build a church. Your Covenant education has equipped you to be uncommonly effective at contributing to the life of a local church. Whenever you graduate from Covenant, you鈥檝e had enough Bible and doctrine to teach Sunday school at any level for decades, like until you鈥檙e senile.

I still have the notes that I took in my classes as an undergraduate at Covenant almost 50 years ago. I use them. I take them out to get ready to teach first-grade Sunday school. I鈥檝e been teaching first-grade Sunday school for 20 years. It鈥檚 harder than you might think, and way more rewarding than you can guess. Even more importantly, when James and John wanted to be made great in Jesus鈥檚 coming kingdom, Jesus turned their attention to welcoming children. Go serve the children.

But in addition to teaching, you can find other ways to use your talents in the church. You can sing in the choir鈥擨鈥檝e sung next to many of you in chapel鈥攎ake meals for families with challenges, clean bathrooms. You will always find people willing to let you help with that. Everything you do for a local church sets someone else free to serve other people. The church is an institution that multiplies your impact in the world. Build a church.

Build a Community 

Secondly: Build a community. The community I鈥檓 asking you to build is much more than a general sense of well-being. What you鈥檝e enjoyed at Covenant has depended upon a mutual willingness to sacrifice merely private desires. What I鈥檝e heard in student testimonies was, over and over again, 鈥淭here were people I could depend on in my class who would set their desires aside to care for me.鈥� That鈥檚 the kind of community that you want. It depends on volunteering to put other people鈥檚 needs ahead of your own.

The church is one place you can volunteer. But there are going to be other organizations wherever you end up who will be able to use your skills, your time, your energy, your ideas, your encouragement鈥攖he same way a church could. You don鈥檛 have to volunteer everywhere鈥攜ou can鈥檛. But you should volunteer somewhere.

Life after Covenant is not that different from life at Covenant. I know鈥擨鈥檝e done it. If everyone says someone else will do it, no one does, and everyone suffers. Your residence hall was healthy when everyone looked out for each other鈥檚 needs and looked for ways to bear each other鈥檚 burdens. And your hall was toxic when even a few people tore each other down and left the hard things for everyone else. The same will be true wherever you go next. Build a community.

Build a Family

Third: Build a family. I understand that building a church and building a community are things you can contribute to all by yourself. Building a family requires other people. Almost all of you are already parts of families that you can help to build. You鈥檝e probably been helping build it so far, I hope. Yes, that family鈥攖he one out there, the ones you鈥檙e trying to prove you don鈥檛 need鈥攜ou might need them a little and they need you. They need you to contribute to the life that they have with your encouragement, with your prayers, looking for opportunities to bear their burdens. And you can free them up to serve other people as well.

Now, if you find someone of the opposite sex to share your life with who isn鈥檛 already married鈥攖hat鈥檚 important鈥攜ou can start your own family. God鈥檚 word encourages that sort of thing. I鈥檝e been married for almost 41 years and have four grown children. I am aware that it is possible to be happy as a single person鈥擨鈥檓 aware of that. But it鈥檚 been over 40 years and I can鈥檛 imagine being happy without my wife, and my children are a continual source of joy. My family multiplies my impact. They serve other people in ways that I cannot and in places I can鈥檛 be. Build a family.

Build a Business

Fourth: Build a business. Again, this doesn鈥檛 mean you have to start a business鈥攁lthough you could. Some of you will do that, and many Covenant grads have done that and done it really well. But most of you will be like me: you will find someone willing to pay you to contribute to what they are already doing. Covenant has equipped you to be very effective employees and teammates. When you can choose, prefer working for a business that is pursuing healthy outcomes over a company that will pay you a lot for frivolous outcomes. You don鈥檛 have to be poor鈥攔eally, you don鈥檛. But a modest income doing something that truly serves others will be much more satisfying than a fat paycheck doing something else. Build a business.

Is This Advice Biblical?

Before I finish, let me answer two likely objections鈥攁gain, you can鈥檛 keep a philosopher from thinking about the likely objections. Here鈥檚 the first one: Is any of this advice biblical?

Now, we鈥檙e not Israel in exile, and we鈥檙e not the church under Roman persecution; even so, Babylon isn鈥檛 a terrible description for the world that we鈥檙e in right now. Jeremiah 29 is written to the Israelites in exile in Babylon. Paul in 2 Thessalonians is writing to the church in the Roman world that John describes as Babylon. They agree that what we are to do as God鈥檚 people is to seek the welfare of the city wherein we find ourselves. As Jeremiah says, 鈥淚n their welfare, we will find ours.鈥� We do that by building institutions that serve other people. We probably won鈥檛 end up being great the way the world counts greatness, but Jesus will be pleased with faithfulness anyway. 

Where鈥檚 the Practicality?

A second objection: How will any of this help you right now? As I was reading over my notes for this piece, I thought: How will this help the graduates who are heading into a world dominated by angry protests, financial distress, and violence? That鈥檚 a good question. But it isn鈥檛 the whole question. The whole question ends in: What can we do about the anger and violence?

We can do what God鈥檚 people have always done: pray and love. We pray that God will turn people鈥檚 hearts away from hatred, that they will turn to Jesus. Without the Holy Spirit working in people鈥檚 hearts, hatred will win. And we love our neighbors. We love them specifically and practically by building institutions that care for them.

The kind of building I鈥檓 asking you to pursue now is how Jesus would have us make a difference in a broken world. I鈥檓 not avoiding the mess out there. I鈥檓 giving us something to do about it.

A Small Confession

My last point is a confession. If I had been told when I graduated to build a church, a community, a family, and a business, I would have thought, That鈥檚 exactly what all the average people around me need to hear. But I鈥檓 special! And, it鈥檚 even a little worse than that. I would have thought, I am smart. I need to do something big. Teaching Sunday school, volunteering at the hospital, raising children, and working for a small college wouldn鈥檛 have been enough. I need to do more in order to be proud of myself. Jesus needs me to do more than that. I really would have thought that鈥攂ut I would have been wrong.

Jesus doesn鈥檛 need more than what I鈥檓 recommending. Jesus doesn鈥檛 need any of it. I certainly didn鈥檛 need more than that. And being proud of myself is a silly thing to want. What I really wanted was for others to be impressed by me鈥攁nd we all know what a foolish desire that is鈥攜et it is a very hard desire to kill.

I now know that the most effective way to kill that foolish desire is to experience the joy of seeing others served by using your talents. Serve others by building institutions. At some point you鈥檒l realize that even if you never get any credit, it will be more than enough. Playing a tiny role in Jesus鈥檚 work of making all things new is what you were called to do鈥攊t is what we were made to do. Now, go build.

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